Last week, I attended the Weston A. Price Foundation‘s annual Wise Traditions Conference. In a few days, I’ll be publishing my favorite new product discoveries from this year’s exhibitors. But first, I’ll tell the best success stories of CPG brands who exhibited at Wise Traditions in their early stages of development. 

I’m at many food conventions to learn about new brands, products, and trends. Wise Traditions is unique in several ways. A lot of the ones I attend are industry shows geared toward retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and brokers. Wise Traditions, on the other hand, is for consumers. And being a Weston A. Price member myself, I can count on all Wise Traditions food exhibitors being ones I approve of. 

But perhaps what makes Wise Traditions most special is that many of its vendors exhibit there before trade shows as they’re just getting started. I’ve been going Wise Traditions conferences since 2012 and have seen many of these then newfound companies now selling at stores nationally. 

In alphabetical order, here are the best success stories I’ve seen from Wise Traditions exhibitors:

Force of Nature

Regeneratively raised meats company Force of Nature was in its early stages when they first exhibited at Wise Traditions in 2019. CEO and co-founder Robby Samson says their “brand was focused on building awareness of regenerative agriculture, educating consumers on the nutritional and environmental benefits of our products, and creating meaningful partnerships with ranchers who shared our commitment to improving land health.” The Wise Traditions conference was a good match for Force of Nature as they were able to connect with people sharing their passions for ancestral health, sustainability, and holistic nutrition. Many of the attendees of that year’s conference became early consumers of their products. Force of Nature has seen tremendous growth since exhibiting at Wise Traditions. They’ve been able to grow their line into a wider variety of offerings, including their ready to eat meatballs. Force of Nature has plans to expand even further into more products as they continue to make regenerative meat more accessible from coast to coast.

Philosopher Foods

Philosopher Foods was only about two years old when they were a Wise Traditions vendor in 2015. They were in a select amount of stores and still trying to figure where to go with their sprouted nut butter business. Being at Wise Traditions, founder Tim Richards felt the market couldn’t better for helping them as they were already familiar with the concept of sprouting nuts. Tim was introduced to sprouting himself through a local Weston A. Price chapter. Since exhibiting nine years ago, Philosopher Foods has grown into a more established CPG brand. Along with sprouted nut butter, they’ve introduced Guts Nuts which are the first only and fermented and dehydrated nuts. Their plans for the future are to build the category of fermented nuts as Tim explains “similar to the way in which 20 years ago no one knew what kombucha was”. Philosopher also now sources its almonds from a California farm which is certified regenerative by the Regenerative Organic Alliance.

Pure Indian Foods

When Pure Indian Foods first exhibited at the Wise Traditions Conference in 2008, they were pretty much a startup, having only sold their ghee at farmers markets and local events. Many walking the exhibitor floor at the conference didn’t know what ghee was, so Pure Indians Foods was the first company to introduce the product to them. Founder Sandeep Agarwal says “As we know, that this audience has more faith in the traditional products.  So we had to explain its tradition and its history and how it has been a staple food in the Indian diet and many other countries for millennia and then people opened to that and they tasted it and they fell in love with it.” In addition, Sandeep thought Wise Traditions was great because they understand how ghee was good for them and he didn’t have to explain the benefits of saturated fat. At Wise Traditions, Pure Indians was selling one product. Their customers then began asking them to source other products associated with Indian foods, such as turmeric which was becoming popular 15 years ago. All expansion into new product territories has been driven by their consumers who have asked for spices, oils, and sauces. Pure Indian Foods is now up to almost 50 products. While they company has grown exponentially, they still have the same fundamentals of traditional organic products directly from the producer who Sandeep knows personally. Pure Indians also remains a small scale family run business with his wife making every batch of the ghee.

Rich Nuts

Rich Nuts began as a Wise Traditions vendor back in 2019 as they were stepping away from the cottage food industry and farmers markets. Founder Rich Pauwels adds “We were of the belief that we have some lightning in a bottle and we wanted to see how far we could take it.” Since the Weston A. Price Foundation was already into sprouting, they felt the conference was a great way to grow (no pun intended) their business. Unlike other conventions, he knew this would be one show where he wouldn’t have to explain why sprouted nuts are better. Rich and his teams’ intuition was correct as they sold out in two days. Rich himself had been a follower of the Weston A. Price Foundation and its Wise Traditions diet for its nutritional recommendations such healthy fats and organ meats. Since the Conference, Rich Nuts has grown exponentially. Exhibiting at Wise Traditions gave him more ideas of flavors and superfood ingredients to use in his products. Rich sees a bright future for his Rich Nuts as sprouted nut are still a small percentage of the overall nut market and have great potential to expand.